ASoG MPM Class of 2022 Valedictorian highlights importance of health governance in her speech

Valedictory Address

Jamie Eloise M. Agbayani, MD, MPM

Class of 2022

Ateneo School of Government

Ateneo De Manila University President Fr. Roberto C. Yap of the Society of Jesus; Officer-In -Charge, Office of the Vice President for Professional Schools, and Concurrent Vice President for the Loyola Schools, Maria Luz C. Vilches, PhD; Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, Philip Arnold Tuaño, PhD; Commencement Speaker of Class Of 2022, Antonio Gabriel M. La Viña, JSD; University Officials and Guests; Academic Head of the Ateneo School Of Government,  Ms. Ma. Cristina Alikpala; Distinguished Faculty Members, Teaching Associates and Staff; Family Members, Colleagues and Friends; and members of the Master In Public Management Graduating Class Of 2022. A pleasant afternoon to all!

It is a great honor and privilege to be standing here before you all to represent the Graduating Class of 2022 of the Ateneo School Of Government’s Master in Public Management Program.

My heart is filled with joy and gratitude to be blessed with a Jesuit Education and formation culminating in today’s commencement exercises.

Allow me to briefly introduce myself and share my reflections on my ASOG journey on Ignatian Spirituality in servant leadership.

I joined the academe of the St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine-William H. Quasha Memorial, Inc. in 2017, upon the invitation of my former professor in medical school who was appointed president and dean. As I fulfilled my duties as college administrator and core faculty of the Department of Pediatrics, I continued serving as an active consultant in the Institute of Pediatrics and Child Health of the St. Luke’s Medical Center, Quezon City for the past 26 years.

The covid-19 pandemic in 2020 was an unprecedented global health crisis, which had a deleterious impact on our already fragmented healthcare system, characterized by the lack of public health infrastructure and human resources for health, among others. Lack of access to healthcare due to lockdowns, limited mobility and diversion of services to covid-19 -related activities further demonstrated the inequities in our society.

During these times, after much reflection and discernment on how to further equip myself as a teacher, clinician and public health advocate, I decided to enroll in The Ateneo School of Government’s Master in Public Management-Health Governance Track.

I have known the Ateneo School of Government to be a prestigious learning institution with competent and distinguished faculty who have many years of actual government service or experience working with government.

With post-graduate studies in the MPM-Health Governance Track, I aspired to contribute more effectively to the upliftment of the health care system in our country through participation in policy-making, health reforms and advocacy for the delivery of equitable, efficient and effective quality health care that shall be responsive to the needs of our people especially the poor, marginalized and vulnerable sectors of our society.

Furthermore, as faculty member of the College of Medicine and being among the stewards of future healthcare professionals, I decided to further build my capacities in response to the re-orientation of health professions education to prioritize competencies in strengthening primary health care, as the cornerstone to attain universal health coverage and the sustainable development goals for our countrymen.

I therefore decided to undertake further studies to gain the knowledge and technical skills in local health systems, public health governance and administration and cascade my learnings to our stakeholders at the St. Luke’s College of Medicine, especially to our students and faculty members.

It has been a truly enriching and humbling experience to learn from our distinguished faculty. Student-centered and practitioner-oriented teaching-learning activities enabled us to better appreciate ethical principles, leadership and governance theories and concepts through their experiences in public service. May I express our deepest respect and gratitude to our esteemed professors for imparting their knowledge and wisdom to us.

We are grateful for the provision of ASOG’s learning management system and digital platforms that enabled self-paced learning and connected us with our co-learners from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, sharing our experiences and our aspirations for our country. We all had to balance our careers with the demands of schoolwork and deadlines to be met. Weekly Saturday classes were extended to weekdays for individual work, and group projects that promoted collaborative work and camaraderie.

The ASOG administrators and academic team remained mindful of these challenges and provided us the guidance and support to remain steadfast in our commitment to complete our MPM studies.

I especially enjoyed our Kapihan sa ASOG fora where the entire academic community would come together to learn from our esteemed leaders in government, in the process giving us hope for our nation.

Our faculty provided the enabling and nurturing environment that inspired us to learn more and give our very best in all our undertakings, inculcating in us their leadership framework and technical expertise, and values of critical-thinking, systems thinking and strategic actions in public service and governance

Our teaching associates were immensely helpful as they constantly took the extra mile to address our needs in a timely and efficient manner, while fulfilling their duties as members of ASOG’s Academic Team.

As I took my electives in the Health Governance Track, i had a deeper appreciation and understanding of our national and local health systems. How health devolution in 1991 resulted in the fragmentation of our healthcare system due to the mismatch of physical, managerial and fiscal capacities, and human capital of local government units, to the devolved functions.

As we are faced with full devolution by year 2026, in the light of the Mandanas-Garcia supreme court ruling, prioritizing investments in capacitating our local government units to take on more functions shall require a whole-of-government, whole-of-systems and whole-of-society approach.

The pandemic was a wake-up call to a no-one-left-behind mindset in our aspirations for universal health coverage and better health for all Filipinos. Providing accessible and responsive quality healthcare with equity and financial risk protection remains to be our overarching mission.

As a final requirement to fulfill our MPM degree, my Governance Innovation Report capstone project brought me back to my roots, as I aspired to give back to the city of Baguio, in gratitude for nurturing and educating me through my childhood and adult life.

Inspired by the leadership of an authentic public servant, Mayor Benjamin Magalong, I endeavored to collaborate with him, and he readily accepted. The learnings gained from his innovative and proactive leadership, and leadership with competence and integrity anchored on “good governance beyond politics” were invaluable. Immersing myself in the local health system and public governance made me better appreciate our roles as agents of change and reforms in government. I am eternally grateful to ASOG for this opportunity, and for all the support given me during my governance innovation report presentation in Baguio last November.

I believe that in the Philippine bureaucracy, we have many competent and patriotic civil servants. However, they need good leaders who will set the vision and direction, lead and motivate them to perform and achieve sound government development goals that will benefit our people. Without good leadership, the potential of the huge bureaucracy will not be fully utilized and may in fact be minimized.

To our dear batch mates of Master in Public Management Class of 2022, it has been an honor and pleasure to learn from your diverse experiences in the bureaucracy, from the Department of Health, the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Immigration, other national government agencies and local government units, and from private organizations. I admire your passion to serve and feel truly blessed, humbled and proud to graduate with all of you. Let us allow ASOG to continue to bind us together beyond today, our graduation day. My heartfelt congratulations to all of us!

Reforms begin and shall be sustained as we bring the new knowledge, skills and attitudes inculcated in us by our ASOG education and formation to our respective workplaces.

May we cherish this gift of having the opportunity to come together as agents of change, and of hope for our country, through the Ignatian Spirituality in servant leadership.

May we reach out to each other in difficult times and when faced with ethical dilemmas in our workplaces, anchoring on each other's strengths and courage to love and serve with magis, grounding ourselves on our capacities and dispositions as we continue to discern our deeper purpose, and serve the lord’s mission for us in our lifetime.

In our work, our guiding light must always be to deliver honest, effective and efficient public service, empower Filipinos to participate in nation building by providing an enabling environment for inclusive and integrated development, and to uplift the lives of the poor and marginalized.

Let us all work in solidarity to bring our Ignatian education and formation to the communities we serve. Our country needs us more than ever, and we continue to pray for our country and our people and let ASOG learnings be our guide posts.

Let us nourish the seeds planted within us by bearing fruits of our hard labor through others in the spirit of cura personalis and cura socialis, for the greater glory of god, as espoused by the Ateneo. Let us be the light wherever we serve and give each other hope for brighter days ahead for our beloved country.

Let us continue to be men and women for others, as we remain steadfast in our commitment to give back to our country through authentic servant leadership, good governance and social accountability.

Once again, allow me to express our deepest gratitude to the Ateneo School of Government’s administrators, faculty, the academic team and staff for enriching our lives with a high level of Jesuit education and formation we have all received, and for building our strong foundation on Ignatian Spirituality in servant leadership.

May I also express my gratitude to my benefactor, Dr. Vania Yu through the Jehovah-Rapha Professorial Chair of the St. Luke’s College of Medicine, and to our Dean and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Susan Pelea Nagtalon for her encouragement and unwavering support.

To my family who have been my anchor and strongest support system through my MPM journey, thank you for all your sacrifices, unconditional love and patience. I could not have accomplished all these without you.

To end, I thank the good Lord and our blessed mother for the gift of life, love and mercy, and for giving me the strength, courage and wisdom to serve my purpose and deepen my faith.

We pray for the Lord’s continued protection and guidance especially for our leaders in government and our country. Help us to continue to discern our purpose in fulfillment of our mission for the greater glory of god. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

Congratulations Class of 2022! Maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat!